BLOG: Bouchard staying honest in self-assessment of defensive details

EDMONTON, AB – Defenceman Evan Bouchard is hyper-aware of the reality that if he and the Edmonton Oilers are not able to take care of their defensive-zone details, then the offensive contributions they provide at the other end of the ice will have a reduced impact.

“The offensive stuff is great, but it doesn't mean much if the puck's coming right back in your net and you’re losing games,” he said. “So it's something I'm going to clean up and it's something that will get better.”

The 24-year-old rearguard has flexed his offensive capabilities this season, recording two goals and eight assists in six games to rank second in the NHL scoring among defencemen behind Colorado's Cale Makar and Carolina's Shayne Gostisbehere after posting three points in Minnesota on Tuesday.

But the young defender’s stat line against the Wild included a minus-3 rating that was the result of some miscues in the defensive zone – neglecting to pick up the stick of his opponent in front, a mishandled puck or an off-target breakout pass – that have showcased some of the collective struggles the Oilers have endured defensively in their first six games while allowing 27 goals against as part of their 1-4-1 record.

For Bouchard, his approach to staying composed in the defensive end involves playing with a simple approach of making the easy plays and focusing on the rudimentary elements of the game – passing, puckhandling and man-marking in front of Edmonton’s net to name a few.

“I think there's going to be ups and downs for everyone,” Bouchard said. "I think it's just limiting those downs when they are there."

"Right now, I think it's more about keeping it simple. Things aren't going the way I want them to, especially defensively with the puck on my stick, so I think keeping it simple is a big thing.”

Head Coach Jay Woodcroft praised Bouchard’s awareness in addressing some of the areas of his game where he needs to improve after seeing his young defenceman excel during the most important moments in the second and third rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs over the last two seasons.

“I think honest self-assessment is key,” Woodcroft said. “I think for him obviously, there are some situations he'd want to play differently or play better."

"I think as is with any player, when you're struggling in a certain area, the key to getting out of that funk is to go back to what your foundation is. Evan certainly has an offensive foundation, but he has a defensive foundation as well. For him to be aware of that, that’s step one.”

Bouchard reached a new level last season alongside Mattias Ekholm after his arrival at the Trade Deadline from the Nashville Predators, and the Swedish defenceman has a strong understanding from his veteran NHL experience that the path for blueliners to success is not always linear.

“We’ve got to guide these young guys, and obviously, we saw Evan at his best for sure last year,” Ekholm said. “He's young, and there are going to be ups and downs. There are so many cases of it. There are so few players that just have a straight curve straight up. You have Makar and maybe somebody else, but with young D-men, if you're going to play the high minutes, you're going to play against some top competition. That is hard.”

Ekholm, an experienced defenceman of 832 NHL regular-season and playoff games, picked out the importance of having a short memory – both as an individual and as a team – when you're marred in a defensive slump.

"You can do great for a stretch of 10-to-15 games, and then, there comes a stretch of 5-to-10 games where you're just lost and not doing great in the D-zone, and that's just hockey," he said. "Sometimes you can ice the exact same game and you win and you lose. That's just hockey, and that's the beauty of it. So for a young d-man like that, it's all about trying to have a short-term memory trying to learn from what every game presents and the mistakes

"For Evan, you saw last game, he and I were on for a lot of goals against, but you saw also what he did in the offensive zone. He got three points and he's creating up there, so it's about finding the balance... as of late too, I feel like there's been these errors and mistakes – just stuff that usually doesn't happen. That's something we obviously have to correct, but at the same time, there are going to be ups and downs for the young D-men."